Nafusi (also spelt Nefusi; in Nafusi: Ažbali / Maziɣ / Mazoɣ or Tanfust) is a Berber language spoken in the Nafusa Mountains (Adrar 'n Infusen), a large area in northwestern Libya. Its primary speakers are the Ibadi communities around Jadu, Nalut (Lalut) and Yafran.[3]
| Nafusi | |
|---|---|
| Ažbali;[1] Mazoɣ / Maziɣ[2] (Nafusi) | |
| Native to | Libya |
| Region | Nafusa Mountains |
Native speakers | 300,000 (2020)[3] |
| Dialects |
|
| Arabic script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | jbn |
| Glottolog | nafu1238 |
The dialect of Yefren in the east differs somewhat from that of Nalut and Jadu in the west.[4] A number of Old Nafusi phrases appear in Ibadite manuscripts as early as the 12th century.[5][6]
The dialect of Jadu is described in some detail in Beguinot (1931).[7] Motylinski (1898) describes the dialect of Jadu and Nalut as spoken by a student from Yefren.[8]
Nafusi shares several innovations with the Zenati languages, but unlike these other Berber varieties it maintains prefix vowels before open syllables. For example, ufəs "hand" < *afus, rather than Zenati fus. It appears especially closely related to Sokni and Siwi to its east.[9]
Phonology
editVowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | ə | ɔ |
| Low | a |
- Vowels may also be shortened /ĭ, ɛ̆, ă, ɔ̆, ŭ/ or lengthened as /iː, ɛː, aː, ɔː, uː/.
- /a/ can also be heard as [æ, ɒ] and /u/ as [ʊ] in different environments.[10]
Consonants
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Post-alv./ Palatal |
Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | phar. | plain | phar. | |||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | t | tˤ | k | q | ʔ | ||||
| voiced | b | d | dˤ | g | ||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | ts | tʃ | |||||||
| voiced | dz | dzˤ | dʒ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | sˤ | ʃ | χ | ħ | h | ||
| voiced | z | zˤ | ʒ | ʒˤ | ʁ | ʕ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||||
| Lateral | l | ɫ | ||||||||
| Trill | r | rˤ | ||||||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||||||
References
edit- ^ Provasi (1973:503)
- ^ Beguinot (1931:220)
- ^ a b Nafusi at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- ^ Beguinot (1931:VIII)
- ^ Lewicki (1934:277)
- ^ Basset (1934:298)
- ^ Beguinot (1931)
- ^ de Calassanti-Motylinski (1898:1)
- ^ Kossmann (1999:29–33)
- ^ Di Tolla & Shinnib (2020)
Works Cited
edit- Basset, André (1934). "Note additionnelle". Revue des études islamiques. VIII.
- Beguinot, F. (1931). Il berbero Nefûsi di Fassâṭo. Grammatica. Testi raccolti dalla viva voce. Vocabolarietti. Roma: Istituto per l'Oriente.
- de Calassanti-Motylinski, A. (1898). Le Djebel Nefousa: transcription, traduction française et notes, avec une étude grammaticale. Paris: Ernest Leroux.
- Di Tolla, Anna Maria; Shinnib, Mohamed (2020). Grammatica di berbero nefusi. Ulrico Hoepli Editore. ISBN 9788820391836.
- Kossmann, Maarten (1999). Essai sur la phonologie du proto-berbère. Köln: Köppe. ISBN 9783896450357.
- Lewicki, Tadeusz (1934). "De quelques textes inédits en vieux berbère provenant d'une chronique ibāḍite anonyme". Revue des études islamiques. VIII.
- Provasi, Elio (1973). "Testi berberi di Žâdo (Tripolitania)". Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli (23): 503.
External links
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